Amici Brief: Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia

By Abbie E. Goldberg, Nanette K. Gartrell, Gary J. GatesAugust 2014

Williams Institute scholars filed an amici brief in two cases regarding adoption rights of same-sex couples that are pending before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia. According to the brief, research indicates lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) parents and their children are functioning well, despite confronting discrimination in a variety of social contexts—including healthcare, legal and school systems.

The two cases before the Court — Turandot v. Defensor Segundo de Familia de Rionegro and In the Matter of Diego Andrés Prada Vargas —concern the constitutionality of law barring adoption rights of same-sex couples. Currently, in Colombia, same-sex couples are prohibited from jointly adopting children, and an LGB person is prohibited from adopting her or his same-sex partner’s child (also known as second-parent adoption).

Key findings in the brief include:

• In the majority of contemporary LGB-parent families, the children were conceived in the context of different-sex relationships as opposed to being conceived or adopted in the context of same-sex relationships, making second-parent adoption an important issue for many same-sex couples.
• Studies that have compared lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents in terms of mental health, perceived parenting stress, and parenting competence have found few differences based on family structure.
• Research findings are consistent in showing that psychological adjustment outcomes, academic achievement outcomes, and social functioning outcomes for children born into LGB-parent families do not vary significantly from those in different-sex parent families.

The full English-language brief is available here. The full Spanish-language brief is available here.